Solutions

OpenFlow is a programmable network protocol designed to manage and direct traffic among routers and switches from various vendors. It separates the programming of routers and switches from underlying hardware.

Vendors offer varying degrees of user programmability on their routers and switches. This can lead to limited functionality for traffic engineering and management, or inconsistent traffic management between equipment from multiple vendors. OpenFlow is designed to provide consistency in traffic management and engineering by making this control function independent of the hardware it's intended to control.

How does OpenFlow work? The technology consists of three parts: flow tables installed on switches, a controller and a proprietary OpenFlow protocol for the controller to talk securely with switches. Flow tables are set up on switches. Controllers talk to the switches via the OpenFlow protocol and impose policies on flows. The controller could set up paths through the network optimized for specific characteristics, such as speed, fewest number of hops or reduced latency.

Benefits of   

OpenFlow decouples the control and management plane from the data plane, allowing the intelligence behind forwarding decisions to be centralized in a separate controller. This offers the potential of simplifying network provisioning and traffic management in deployments where traditional distributed control and management planes run into challenges arising out of scale, multiple domains of control, distinct islands of connectivity, and disparate overlay networks.

Macrotron Systems, OpenFlow solutions provider, contact us: sales@macrotronsystems.com